His 2018 Winter Olympics may be over, but Nathan Chen’s comeback story is only just beginning. Chen, who entered Saturday’s men’s free skate in 17th place after a disappointing short program, finished his performance with a new personal best, 215.08. His final score, 297.35, landed him in first at the end of the second group. “This is the Nathan Chen we know,” NBC Olympics commentator Johnny Weir. Chen also made history by being the first person to land five clean quads during an Olympics game. Chen had attempted six quads,…

The hermit kingdoms athletes could be stunned if they come across the statue of a boy named Lee Seung-bok while competing at the Winter Olympics, as Kim Jong-un seeks to keep his story hidden. Lee was a nine-year-old boy who was murdered and mutilated by North Korean soldiers when they tried to attack the South and establish guerrilla camps in the Tieback Mountains. The raids were carried out after being ordered by Kim Il-sung, the founder of North Korea and the grandfather of Kim Jong-un. Lee was immortalised as an…

North Korean cheerleaders chant during the women’s ice hockey preliminary game between Korea and Japan at the Winter Olympics on Feb. 14 in Gangneung, South Korea. The cheerleaders have been a fixture at games played by the unified Korean women’s ice hockey team, which featured several players from the North, but this was the first time they have attended an Olympic event not featuring a North Korean athlete. Dubbed in South Korea as the “army of beauties,” the cheerleaders were attending the Olympics in a sign of warming ties between…

It was a tough night for most of the Americans competing in PyeongChang. Primetime spotlight It was a night full of surprises, with many feel-good storylines ending in disarray. Mikaela Shiffrin was attempting to win back-to-back golds on back-to-back nights. She came up short on a night she didn’t feel or look like herself. She finished fourth, just off the podium in the women’s slalom. Nathan Chen was seeking redemption in the men’s short program. He came up short, faltering on every one of his mandatory elements. On the flip side,…

More on that… Oh. Other Shaun White stuff. ThinkProgress (@thinkprogress) NBC’s botched attempt to ignore the sexual harassment allegations against Shaun White https://t.co/9UuwWTNWb3 pic.twitter.com/3B5Rhsfg9q February 15, 2018 In the men’s ice hockey, Sweden have beaten Norway 4-0. Earlier today and also in that group, Germany beat Finald 5-2. Fancy something to read? I interviewed Zoe Gillings-Brier, GB’s top snowboard crosser, who is terrifyingly impervious to fear. In the third period of that men’s ice hockey, which has been confiscated from our tv screens in favour of an ice skating rerun,…

American-born Randi Heesoo Griffin scored the unified Korean women’s team’s first and only Olympic goal in a 4-1 loss to Japan in Pyeongchang on Wednesday. But it came after a real shocker from the Japan netminder Akane Konishi. Konishi seemingly had all things under control as the puck dribbled towards her. Then disaster struck. The Japanese netminder got her pads in a twist and she somehow managed to deflect the ball into her own net. It prompted dramatic scenes as South Koreans inside the Kwandong Hockey Centre and North Korea’s…

The secretive state, which opened up to the world by engaging in the Winter Olympics south of the border, is set to celebrate the birth date of dictator Kim Jong-un’s father Kim Jong-il. Celebration days are regularly used as an excuse by the regime to launch missiles – including 2016 where the anniversary of the state’s founding was marked with an underground nuclear test. Seoul’s Unification Ministry spokesman Baik Tae-hyun said: “Without any peculiarity, North Korea is having commemorative events at the previous year’s scale. “Usually, North Korea has held…

There’s something new under the sun in Pyeongchang: the first two American women to become five-time Winter Olympians. Snowboarder Kelly Clark and cross-country skier Kikkan Randall both began their Olympic careers on home turf in Salt Lake City, and have not only reached the top of their sport but also brought along a new generation of world-class competitors. They are among a growing number of competitors coming back for successive Olympic Games in record numbers: this year there are 12 four-time Olympians on Team USA – triple the number there…

GANGNEUNG, South Korea — Team Russia was most definitely in the building. Its official athletes were another story. As their home country’s pairs skaters took the ice Wednesday inside the Gangneung Ice Arena, Russians decorated in the colors of their flag packed the stands, whooping and whistling with approval. As punishment for a state-sponsored doping scandal stemming from the 2014 Sochi Olympics in Russia, the International Olympic Committee banned Russian athletes from competing under their nation’s delegation in PyeongChang. Instead, about 170 Russian athletes eligible here must wear nondescript white…